Exciting times in Africa

This past weekend I took 3 of the kids to see Auntie Aggie run the Spar 10km marathon in Joburg. She did a really good job and we are all very proud of her! It was amazing seeing how many people turn up on a Sunday morning to test their endurance. Almost enough to make me want to take up the sport... almost, but not quite.
Since Nicole is leaving me next week and I couldn't send her away without having seen a lion up close and personal we went last friday to the Rhino and Lion park which is about an hour away from the baby house. You can play with some of the animals and also go on a game drive. We first went and played with a full grown cheetah (above) and some baby white lions (below). They were so cute and surprising undisturbed that you were upsetting their sleep! We saw a number of cool animals, including the elusive water buffalo (now I only have to find a Leopard and then I will have seen all 5 of the "big 5"). We also managed to find both lions and wild dogs in the predator area, which was pretty sweet because those were the two things we really wanted to see. It is such a blessing living in an area with so many cool things to do and they are so cheap (especially with the current exchange rate) compared to what you would expect to see in the states. It cost $8 to get into the park and $1.80 to play with the cats. Crazy!


I will be very sad when Nicole leaves. It is great having someone at the baby house who is always up for doing things and who understands my kooky sense of humour! We have had a lot of fun the last month and a half and I hope God continues to bless me with other great international volunteers.

A bunch of head cases :-)

The staff of Tsholofelo went on a 2 day first aid course last week. We all had a lot of fun and it is nice know that now we can cope with most situations that come our way. Even though it is all mostly common sense stuff, without having done the course I don't think I would necessarily have thought of the right response in emergency situations. It is really quite a miracle that none of our kids have done anything to hurt themselves yet. With 7 kids under 5 you would expect that some of them would be the accident prone little things you always hear about. Happily though, even we have had some close calls all of our children seem to be indestructible! Pray that remains the case!

Aggie - our housemom - was the demonstration victim for most of the weekend.

All of the Tsholofelo gang with "broken jaws".

Me with a "broken arm" that Sue bandaged remarkably well.

Horseback riding

We are in the midst of a community service project from one of the local banks where groups of 4 employees get together and come out to do something for the house and the kids. A few weekends ago some of the employees invited us out to their farm to ride the horses. I was so proud of the kids for actually getting on - they are usually not too thrilled about animals. We all had a great time and will be going again in a couple of weeks.

It is so nice when we have people who want to help us and this group was especially great at trying to get the kids to have a nice day and they also helped us with cleaning in the morning which was a big blessing for the aunties.